Reading and writing, as currently defined in our culture, require extensive use of a limited number of genetically inherited abilities. The most important of these abilities are foveal vision, auditory processing and sequential processing. A common finding is that individuals who are diagnosed as having foveal vision deficiencies and/or auditory or sequential processing deficits are regularly classified as learning disabled, i.e. not able or less able to learn, despite the fact that these same "disabled" individuals often have very strong abilities, i.e. learning abilities, in such areas as visual and/or spatial processing and parafoveal and/or peripheral vision.
Such findings say at least as much about our culture's linguistic ability bias as they do about the ability limitations of individuals. Unfortunately, educators and researchers have largely failed to address ability. They have, instead, continued to focus their attention upon diagnosis and remediation, i.e. identifying and "fixing" the deficits and deficiencies of the individual. Thus, the diagnostic/remedial approach begins with the question, "How do we fix the individual so that they are better able to process text foveally, auditorally, and sequentially?".
In contrast, the present invention focuses upon ability. It is founded on the question, "How do we redesign the existing grapho-linguistic tools and processes, i.e. text and the methods of processing text, so that individuals who have abilities in the areas of visual processing, spatial processing, and/or parafoveal and peripheral vision are enabled to use these abilities for reading and writing?".
The solution offered by the present invention is based upon the use of cartographic methods and techniques to map graphic language texts. Textmapping provides a means of decoding and comprehending text as graphic information. Essentially, it is the visuospatial equivalent of currently accepted auditory reading techniques, which provide a means of decoding and comprehending text as auditory information. Both textmapping and the currently accepted approaches to reading provide means of structuring information so that it may be understood, remembered, and recalled. They differ, however, in the way they perceive the messages contained in text and in the nature of the structures and metaphors used to aid comprehension.
Currently accepted reading techniques regard text as sound. Graphic language is perceived foveally, decoded as sound information, structured as sequences or hierarchies, and comprehended as abstract concepts. By comparison, the present invention utilizes textmapping which regards text as an image. Textmapping is a descriptive process whereby text information is perceived foveally or parafoveally/peripherally, and is decoded as visual information, structured as simultaneous images and spatial relationships, and comprehended as a concrete image.
Textmapping thus provides an alternative to the existing foveal/auditory/sequential reading model. It represents a shift in focus: instead of remediating the individual's disabilities, it seeks to make the best use of the individual's abilities, namely parafoveal/peripheral vision and visual/spatial processing.